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I thought I would post for the cat lovers.
I adore cats. We have always had at least one. Years ago, we were catless, which was strange. A friend of my daughters, called and said he found a kitten, that seemed hurt, under a car at the used car lot he worked at and did we want it. We went to get it, I realized that it tail was at least gangrenous -- took it straight to the vet, who cut off her tail to save her life. She was maybe 5 weeks old. Thus Rocky (she had raccoon like stripes on her face) came to us. A few months later, my uncle, called and begged me to take his 2 cats as he was moving back to VA, and couldnt take them, but he didnt want to seperate them. He assured me they were both female and one was fixed -- the other was still a kitten... So Precious and Hope (terrible cat names, IMHO) came to us. Hope, the one that was fixed, was not opposed to being seperated from Precious and promptly ran away. We renamed Hope, Zelda, and I was RELIGOUS about keeping them in the house, as I did not want to risk kittens -- until both Rocky and Zelda where old enough to spay.
My son, kept insisting that, and I quote, "The cats are being gay!" I admonished him to STOP SAYING THAT! That is until one day, I had a rare moment where I was quietly reading on my bed, when I head the cats, romping. And then, if they weren't gay, they were at least very friendly, and then it was clear that Precious, aka Zelda, was clearly a male. Link, as he was then know, went to see the vet the very next day. Alas, he succeded in knocking up Rocky. I emailed my uncle daily pictures of the kittens, as a thank you, and he was wise enough, not to let me corner him at Thanksgiving that year. I was able to find homes for Oliver, Milford and Ed -- btw, they ended up being all females. FYI, naming them male names, does not influence whether or not they are male, no matter how much you want it too!

Cats are evil. It's a proven fact that they steal the breath from babies. They hang around witches, claw up the furniture and generally smell like... eh.. well they smell. I am for getting rid of all cats. You can also take my quiz (an old one) 'I Hate Cats' to test your famous cat knowledge. So if we could just remove all the cat posts, all of the cat avatars and............ ooops! Never mind!

Any animal that uses a box, doesn't pee on the furniture or carpet (as my Yorkie), and bathes itself is good in my book. I named my two female babies Patches and Sandia, for their colors. Sandia turned out to be a boy, and I considered renaming him till I decided humans are the only ones who know whether a name tends to be thought F or M. As long as I feed him, Sandia doesn't care what he is called.

The first night his sister sneaked out the door and wouldn't return quickly, thereby stuck spending the night outside, Sandia was beside himself. They had never been separated. First thing next morning, he was pacing by the door, meowing loudly. I opened the door and Patches was right there. Sandia made a nuisance of himself to her for hours, never letting her be more than a few inches away from him.

They are totally safe outside here at the new place, so they are free to enter and exit at will. They follow commands as well as any dog I've ever had. But they sleep beside me. I couldn't be happier with my peaceful animal family.

Oh - and there was a very young kitten under the back porch when I moved in here. The 3 dogs consider her their pet. They are totally raising her, making sure she eats first out of their bowls. That kitten won't let me anywhere near it. I haven't figured out how to get it innoculated, so soon something will have to be done.

We are a pet family too. More than I WOULD LIKE [ it's safer to yell loud on Sploofus than directly to my wife.]

We have a cat named Precious by the way. Meow. I like her at least.

Also, there is a bunch of kittens living on our back porch. Money being no object [to her], I had to schedule an appointment to a local vet for spaying the two females of the family. Every kitten has a name of course. This latest litter is based on Harry Potter books. Grrr.

We dropped them off the evening before the scheduled surgery [wifey ordered the full treatment, laser; pain medicine; inoculations]. These aren't even our own cats- just strays mind you. Grrr.

Anyway, the next day, we got a phone call. "Luna" went through with flying dollars [$145 worth] but "Ginny" turns out to be a boy!
Well, "Gin" was a little cheaper on my pocketbook. And he's neutered now.

I love cats. Have had several of them over the years, but many years ago we were reading that the best pet to have is a skunk. Supposedly they combine the best features of dogs and cats. You can little box train them, but you can also walk them on a leash, supposed to be loyal and friendly like dogs, etc, etc, etc.

So - we went and got us a descented skunk. Worst pet I ever had. Hated everyone. Holed up in the bathroom and hissed at anyone who had to pee. Finally had to give him away to an animal preserve.

But to answer your question - what's better than a kitten? A GRANDCHILD!

I am a cat lover too. Right now I have Fred, Simba, Bat, Hershey, Romeo ( bet you can't guess how he got his name ) its his beautiful blue eyes of course and Cierra and Shasta. Janice I have an idea on how you might catch the kitten living on your porch. I am a firm believer in spay and neuter so I think its important to get your hands on that kitten. You may be able to rent a trap from your local animal shelter. Once the kitten knows that you mean it no harm it will be a most loving pet. I do believe its important to do this while its still young because taming an older cat could prove to be next to impossible. Furthermore you could end up with lots of scared kittens on your porch. I speak from experience on the taming of wild kittens because I have tamed several in my life and they became very loving and devoted pets. Pm me and let me know how everything turns out.

Thomas Jefferson, my soulcat, along with his sibs Betsy Ross and Tom Cruise, was born to a feral mom on a stormy Fourth of July, 1994, in a cat shelter volunteer's back yard. The volunteer picked up the whole family and took them to the shelter. The mom later ended up on a farm in Wisconsin, and both Betsy and Tom were adopted as kittens. Time went by. No one adopted Thomas Jefferson, so he settled in at the shelter.

I am a volunteer at that same shelter and used to help out on weekends. One Sunday afternoon in early December of that same year, I was sitting and doing some serious cat socializing when out of nowhere this pushy, bossy skinny tan cat jumped up onto my lap and pushed off a couple of drowsy felines whom I had been petting. He demanded a few pats, walked around on my lap in circles, kneaded a bit, then promptly curled up for a snooze.

About a half hour later, it was time for me to go home. I gently joggled my thighs so the cat would wake up. He did, stretched mightily, ignored me completely without even a "thank you for your lap" or "it was nice meeting you," jumped down to the floor, and ran off to a bowl of dry food. Well, okay, I thought.

I returned to the shelter the next Sunday afternoon and mentioned to the shelter manager that I was in the market for a black cat that would look great curled up next to my tuxedo cat at home. We found a few black cats that were sleeping in various corners of the no-cage shelter, but none of them plucked my heart strings.

"What about Thomas Jefferson," Kathy asked. "He's been here for six months and has seen his family get adopted, but no one yet has chosen him." Kathy proceeded to do her cat-shelter-volunteer spiel, telling me about Thomas's history and endearing characteristics. "Thomas Jefferson," she yelled repeatedly. "Thomas Jefferson, where are you?"

Sleeping cats woke and lifted their heads to see who was making such a racket, but no Thomas Jefferson appeared. Kathy and I sat down to discuss my personal needs and wants regarding adopting a cat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a skinny tan body jumped into my lap, did his circling thing, kneaded a bit, and promptly tucked himself into a furry circle for sleep. I told Kathy that this was repeat behavior from last Sunday. I'd already "met" this very brash cat.

"Ah, there's Thomas Jefferson! And, Carol, I think you have been chosen."

Thomas went home with me that same day and has been my soulcat ever since. If I am eating, he wants to know what it is and usually will give the bowl or plate a few cursory licks after I'm finished eating (he'd prefer WHILE I'm eating), just so we can say we shared. His most favorite treat is Italian beef from the Chicago chain Portillo's. No other Italian beef will do. It has to be Portillo's. And if I'm reading, he's right there on my lap checking out the title and sniffing the inside of the book. He hunches down like cats do and intently watches me with wide eyes as I mend clothes or write thank-you notes or do crossword puzzles, like this is something he needs to know how to do "just in case." Part of his job, he feels, helping me in any way he can, so that when I do the crossword or have any paper lying on the table, he will sprawl all over it to be best paperweight known to man.

Right now he's fast asleep on the pet heating pad I plug in during the winter. I wonder if he's dreaming about me. He was 16 this past July. He's still a pushy, bossy skinny tan cat (probably part Abyssinian) who always has something to "say" about something--or anything (since the first day living here!)--and who still can jump from chair to cat condo to top of computer table in order to walk along the top of the drapery rods and use his tail to whisk away any cobwebs in the corners.

I wish him many more years. I don't know what I will do without him in my life.

Oh violet, no truer words have never been spoken. Any one that has a cat AND a dog -- one moment of doggie treating the litter box like a snack tray -- you never seeing those pet owners letting doggie lick their face!

We had a stray calico adopt us, so we named her Serendipity. She was a very sweet cat, and lived on our porch (no inside pets allowed here) but she always remained a little wild and would wander off. She had a litter of 3 kittens and 2 disappeared but the remaining calico looked just like her mama, so we named her Serendipity Jr., but we called her Sara for short.

So Sara grew up and had 3 kittens the same week Serendipity had 3. But Serendipity stole Sara's 3 and took them out into the woods. She kept them wild and didn't let them stay on our porch and one by one the little guys died while Serendipity ran around. So we re-named Serendipity Joan Crawford since she was such a bad mama. One day Joan just stopped coming around and only Sara was left at the house, so we started calling her Serendipity. And then one of Joan's kittens wandered back to us, so scrawny and half dead. We nursed it back to health, but it was still very wild and skittish. A friend managed to catch it and looked underneath and declared the cat a boy, so I started calling it Little Tom. Eventually, my daughter re-named him Major Tom. So we then just had Serendipity and Major Tom and we got Serendipity fixed so we wouldn't have more kittens to deal with.

Then one day I heard the sound of a baby kitten on the porch and went out to find that our friend doesn't know how to determine the sex of a cat as Tom had just delivered a kitten. Tom was so scrawny that 1 was all she had. So that day we re-named her Majorette Tomasina, but we still just call her Tom. Now she's been fixed too.

I actually consider myself a dog person as that is what I grew up with, but since my daughter is a cat person, I have really grown to love them. Our 2 are so cute.

After my most recent Tom, Ulysses, died at age 16, I got a new kitten from a farm, which has an ample crop every spring. My friend, who is nervous around cats, cradled this little one in her lap on the trip home. They've been fast friends ever since. She
suggested the name, "Callie," since the cat is a calico. Not very original, but works well. But I wish I had spelled it "Calleigh,"
just to add a touch of class.

I love my doll-faced Persian sisters, but if I was starved for their affection I would have dried up and blown away long ago. They have the dual whammy of looking utterly adorable and cuddly while being as prickly as rattlesnakes. Our male cat is also not terribly affectionate except in bed! (that's what SHE said) Out of all of our animals, our 75 lb boy dog is the only one you could put in your lap and cuddle and he'd never get sick of it.

I just never knew each cat has such a distinctive personality. Guess I was too busy before.

Sandia, since a little kitten, has had a way of jumping in my lap, circling, and then just falling straight sideways (legs straight). He totally trusts me to catch him, because he would fall right off my lap if I didn't. So I catch him and lay him down, and he then curls and expects to be scratched. i've NEVER seen a cat do something like that - totally dangerous to him - yet it's 100% of the time.

A really weird thing I never noticed before in my whole life - I'd know Sandia was male just from the really low pitch of his purr, as opposed to the high, light pitch of his sister's purr. And just the weight of his bone structure is literally twice as heavy as his twin sister's. They're like a science project I love and can't wait to study more each day.

Cats are funny, they can be as standoffish as an elderly maiden aunt. Or a friendly as a puppy. We had a kitten, that was orange and clearly male -- he had the cutest orange pom-poms -- I would frequently point them out to my sons, just to horrify them -- alas, the pom-poms were snipped, which was a good trade off to get a cat that was neutered. He was the sweetest friendliest cat ever. We also had a tuxedo cat, that was the boss of the house, including over the dog. He fell in love with my sister-in-law and would walk her to her car and wait for her to return, every single day. He would not allow the dog to eat, untill all the cats had a turn. I took in a Siamese that was abused -- she would only come to me, and stayed in the basement for six months -- it took her TWO YEARS to go to the upstairs of our house, and then only to come say hi to me in my bedroom. She loved for me to do laundry and was my loyal assistant. We had a cat that was just grouchy -- all the time, but she loved to watch me clean house, infact several of our cats would watch me mop -- there heads bobbing with the motion of the mop -- I think it was because it happened so infrequently....